New offering from local author

LOCAL author Frank Burkett has released his second book, The O’Connor Protocol. The book was published earlier this year, and is now available for local readers.

His first novel, View From The Clock Tower, was short listed in England for a crime writing award, and received enthusiastic reviews in his home state. His second novel is already receiving accolades from his growing core of readers.

The O’Connor Protocol is about the trust that brothers must place in each other.

“The year is 1990, and for twenty-something Tom O’Connor, life is good. Descended from a family of Queensland pioneers, he runs a newspaper in the tropics. Success and women come his way easily. But that is soon to change. An 1860s incident, in which an Aboriginal woman was killed, has surfaced to haunt the O’Connor family. Tom’s ancestor should have been investigated over her death but was saved by his magistrate brother. This dubious act invoked the O’Connor Protocola family tradition that obliges an O’Connor to protect his sibling.

“Generations later, land developer Todd Steele, whose descendant took the blame for the crime, intends squaring the account. Tom O’Connor is alerted to Todd’s mission only when drugs appear in the region.

“Adding to the chaos, an Aboriginal tribe inexplicably registers a sacred site on the O’Connor farm. Billy — Tom’s Aboriginal colleague at the newspaper — has his own story to tell about drugs and tribal injustice.

“Drawing on their limited resources, the pair grapple with the threat to their paradise.

When they uncover more than they bargain for, the O’Connor family is forced to invoke the protocol a second time.”

One reviewer, Judith Flitcroft (author of Walk Back In Time), describes the novel as: “A ripping yarn. From the outset, suspense builds page after page.”

Mr Burkett, who still lives in Maryborough, is working on his third novel which again features beautiful Queensland.

The book is on sale at Heritage City News in Adelaide Street.